earth

Extremadura has decided to explore an energy “treasure” under his feet: rare earth deposits

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In recent days, we have heard a lot about “rare earths.” This last obsession of the US president, Donald Trump, has infected everyone and We have followed closely your insatiable search by different parts of the world as Greenland either Ukraine. However, this desire for the dominance of this element is due, among things, that China is the giant that It dominates it. However, to the surprise of many, Extremadura handles the hypothesis that houses a potential of four deposits of rare earths. Short. The Board of Extremadura granted a license In August 2024 to explore an area of ​​49,500 hectares, which will cover 20 municipalities of the Cáceres de los Ibores and scratch field. For its part, indications of the presence of rare earths have also been confirmed in the Badajoz area. An opening for Europe. This new finding marks a new path to Europe, since it needs its own reservations to reduce its dependence on third countries. Francisco Fernández, delegate of the College of Geologists of Extremadura (ICOG), He explained: “The geological characteristics of Extremadura are favorable to house rare earth deposits”, although it is still in a preliminary phase. However, it has not ruled out the possibility that in deposits already exploited from metals I can host these elements. In addition, more than five years ago there were previous work where there had been search for mining resources in the area. The work, entitled “Mining Resources of Extremadura, Rocks and Industrial Minerals”was commissioned by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, and placed the deposits in the Pacenses localities of Bartrota and Burguillos del Cerro, and in a cacereña, Alía. Spain has potential. The deposits are not reduced only to Extremadura. Spain has a wide variety of elements to extract and different areas for it. In particular, rare earths can find them in Galicia, Gran Canaria, Almería, Ciudad Realamong other places. The fan that has been opened is very wide, but these deposits have in common not only the element, but their extraction seems to be complex. However, another thing that does not remain and we can affirm that we have is ingenuity. In Spain, the formula has been found to stop depending on other countries to obtain rare earths, and It is by recycling. From a recycling plant, valuable elements are recovered through a process of merger at high temperatures. Other critical minerals. Ester Boixereu, an expert in Mineral and Vocal Resources of ICOG, in an interview for Radio 5, has detailed That rare earths are a critical mineral, but that the list of critical minerals in turn is a “very long list of elements.” In addition, he added that rare earth minerals have a peculiarity, and are not difficult names, but do not form their own minerals. In other words, it is difficult to find a high concentration of these elements, since they are all together in a series of minerals. On the other hand, Extremadura has a lot to offer, as it has great potential for minerals and is also in plans to carry out a Great Lithium Mine. However, making a more general photograph, Spain He is highlighting In the EU as a power in other productions such as copper, wolframium, graphite, vanadium and cobalt, among others. A long road. Despite the potential, rare earth mining is not immediate or simple. Despite the advance in extraction technologies to significantly reduce the environmental impact, there are still concerns about past cases such as that of Aznalcóllar. For this reason, Spanish legislation requires rigorous environmental controls before authorizing any mining exploitation to ensure care of the environment. Image | Pexels Xataka | Europe has been trapped between two powers: US and Russia already discuss the controversial Nord Stream 2 on their own

The oceans of the Earth were green for thousands of years. More and more scientists believe they will be again

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On February 14, 1990, 6,000 million kilometers from Earth, the Voyager 1 He took a photo. There, sustained in space by the mysterious forces of. Space-time, our planet is nothing more than a light blue motor between the sunlight reflected by the camera. Four years later, Carl Sagan baptized that photo as “that pale blue point.” What we just discovered is that it was not always the case. 3,000 million years ago, that point would have been green. Wasn’t it blue? Actually, according to Taro Matsuo and his team from the University of Nagoya in Japan explain in Japanduring most of the history of the earth its surface would not have been blue. For about 3,000 million years and until 600 million years ago (just when complex life begins on the planet) the predominant color seems to have been green. (No) take iron from the matter … The first is that, at that time, the indications tell us that the oceans were full of iron hydroxide. This inorganic compound absorbs blue light. In addition, naturally, water absorbs red light. That means that taking into account that chemical composition, the only free light was the green color. The other reason is the cyanobacteria. It’s about One of the first photosynthetic beings of history and not only used chlorophyll to absorb sunlight, but used fuses to absorb red and green light. The sum of these two things caused the seas to have a characteristic green color. And they had it for billions of years. It is true that it was not a pure green color. After all, blue is “a consequence of dispersion Rayleight of sunlight in the atmosphere. “So the color would tend to blue, but without a doubt it would be something much greener than current. What is the use of all this research? First, to understand that when The MIT explained in 2019that the sea will return green in the mid -century, we are talking about something very plausible. It is not just that A follow -up study In 2023 he confirmed that more than half of the land surface had gained greenery in recent years. It is that, for a long time, it was so. On the other hand, it allows us to answer one of the great questions of astrobiology: “Does only the blue tone of a planet serve as an indicator of its potential to house life?“And the answer, of course, is no: not a ‘non -radical’ is true; but one that reminds us that there are more things out there that can still dream our biology. Image | Georgetan#5 In Xataka | UFOs are a distraction: how astrobiology is our best asset to find extraterrestrial life

The most precise map of the Earth has been created by a team of physicists. And it has little to do with what we are used to

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One of the great challenges of cartographers trying to create world maps is the impossibility of recreating the surface of a sphere in a plane. At least faithful, precise and legible. The map on disk. He last attempt For creating a map that minimizes the distortions associated with the representation of the surface of the sphere in a plane has given a curious result: a plane whose authors compare it with a vinyl disk. The reason is that on this map our planet is represented as two circles, one showing the northern hemisphere and another the south. The map has imperfections, but its authors consider that it is the most faithful projection to date. “You can’t do everything perfect,” pointed in a press release Richard Gott, one of the authors, “a map is as good in a thing as it may not be to represent other things.” A problem of (more than) half an millennium. Humanity has known for thousands of years that Earth is spherical, but this rarely was a problem for two reasons. The first is that the cards only included the Eurasia and Africa region, the Americas, Oceania or Antarctica did not enter the maps until To this we must add that the maps were not so precise that the distortions of This problem They will charge relevance. Many times they didn’t have to be: it was not until the modern era that cartographic precision began to be vital, especially for those who threw themselves into the sea. From Mercator to Winkel Tripel. Mercator’s projection is a of the oldest And even today is one of the most used. This projection was created in the 16th century by Gerardus Mercator with the intention of facilitating transoceanic navigation. While this map maintains precision in the shapes of the elements such as seas or countries, The sizes are significantly distortedmaking areas close to the poles more with respect to those located in Ecuador. A lot of history. Centuries of work have led less distorting maps. Among them, the authors of this new plane include the Winkel-Tripl, a projection created by German cartographer Oswald Winkel in 1921. This map is not so helpful for navigators and still has distortions around the poles, but represents a commitment . It is also the representation used by the National Geographic Society. “Disco” version, showing here on the obverse and the reverse on the same plane. Gott et al. Scoring the maps. If the plane is not perfect, why do your authors think it is close? In 2007 David Goldberg and Gott itself created a maps score system based on six criteria: local forms, areas, distances, flexion, asymmetry, and cuts. The punctuation system is inverse: a spherical mapamundi would have a score of 0.0, and from there, any added distortion would add greater score. The punctuation system was introduced into An article In the magazine Cartography: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization. Being work of the same team does not result from this letter to be able to minimize the score. If the Winkel-Tripl had a score of 4,563, the new map Reduces error to 4,497 points. The “trick.” The new projection presumes to achieve better scores than its alternatives in the six variables stipulated by Gott and its team, however there is one in which it emphasizes particularly thanks to a trick, that of continuity. If we take any map we will see that there is a cut, usually located in the Pacific Ocean, between Asia and Oceania, and the Americas. This is a great source of distortison according to Gott’s criteria and his team. Your solution: a disc with two faces. The Gott map is raised to present itself in the form of an disk, which gives continuity to the “cut” we see in Ecuador (and that, that, The authors explain The map could also be placed along the zero meridian). From Earth to the confines of the cosmos. The authors of the new map took advantage of their new projection to Cartogarafiar Other other elementsfrom the planets of the Solar System to the celestial vault, including a story map Microwave cosmic background. In Xataka | The real size of all countries in the world, compared to the size of the maps In Xataka | The map that teaches us what the world will be like within 250 million years Image cover | Rectangular version of the projection of Gott, Goldberg and Vanderbei *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

An underwater cable that will give more than one return to the earth

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Two current trends in geopolitics are the Rare earth and submarine cables. The first because China has the pan for the mango and are essential for the construction of today’s world. The second because that world cannot be understood without them and we are seeing that they are an element of pressure in A scenario like the Ukraine War. Submarine cables are the perfect example of globalization, the element that allows practically all countries Let’s be interconnected and that we can enjoy telephone lines, internet or streaming systems as we do today. Our oceans are full of these cables And it is companies such as goal or Google who are investing greatly in increasing their number due to the boom of both streaming and AI. Precisely a goal, which was already working to display a huge cable of more than 7,000 kilometers, has just announced one that will go around the world: A megacable that will interconnect more than 50,000 kilometers. Waterworth Project: New Generation Cables The Earth has a circumference of about 40,000 kilometers, this being a fact that helps us understand the magnitude of the infrastructure that plans to display Mark Zuckerberg’s company. In a releaseMeta has commented that this underwater cable is the most ambitious so far for its part (and by anyone, go) and that, when it has been completed, it will link the five main continents through more than 50,000 kilometers. The name of the project is Waterworth and the idea is join the two coasts of the United States with Brazil, South Africa, India and Australia. They have not talked about numbers, but it is a multimillion -dollar investment and will be carried out in several phases over the years. To get an idea, the Google cable to join Japan and the west coast of the United States It will cost about one billion dollars. The intention of the goal is to strengthen its position in the digital highway segment in order to boost their artificial intelligence. It is something that the company is very involved and, in this way, it will reinforce its presence in the sector. These submarine cables are composed of other cables, normally 8 or 16 fiber pairs, but there are also some with 24 pairs. Waterworth will be of this last class and will become the longest of 24 pairs. And it is not a plan on paper: they are already working on the path that will travel the cables, with the intention of protecting them as much as possible, since some sections will be 7,000 meters deep near high risk failures. Vital highways (such as the Ukraine War is demonstrating) Something they are also paying attention to is the cable covering. Meta has commented that they will use improper burial techniques in the shallow areas near the coast, where ships usually damage these systems, but are also looking to protect them in the face of “other dangers”. What other dangers? Well, we have recently seen in the Ukraine War, where Cuts have occurred in these cablessomething that has caused instability in some systems. Due to its importance, and the stage in which the cuts were given, at first it was believed that Russia and China were behindbut it seems that the explanation is another: dragged anchors that caused the cuts by error. Be that as it may, that at first it would be thought that the cable cut was part of a pressure measure in a war scenario, it reflects the importance when protecting this type of systems. In the end, as a goal states in its statement: they are essential now, but they will be even more in the era of the AI ​​we are entering. Images | Goal In Xataka | A third of the world’s population cannot read this: the UN reveals that 2.9 billion people have never accessed the Internet

The rare earth war has arrived in Spain. And it is in Ciudad Real where mining and ecology are confronted

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If there is an resource that dominates the geopolitical panorama of today, that is that of the Rare earth. Are essential for many technological fields among which are electric vehiclessystem elements renewable energies and the technological world in general, and China dominates both its mining and its production. The rest of the world seeks a new ‘El Dorado’ of Rare Earth to be able to exploit, and it turns out that In Spain there is a very sweet site. It is in Ciudad Real, but it will not be so easy to extract its resources. I have land (rare). In Spain it is estimated that there are several rare earth deposits. Mount Galiñeiro in Galicia is one of them, In Gran Canaria It is also estimated that there are large quantities, in Cádiz and Almería there are also deposits and more of the same Between Salamanca and Zamora. Another important site is in the field of Montiel, in Ciudad Real, and something that practically everyone has in common is that their extraction seems complicated. Not so much because of the technical issue (extracting rare earths is not a problem, neither does its production), but by the environmental counterpart. It is a potentially polluting activity that is very regular in Europe (that is why China was doing with all the control) and that meets an added inconvenience: Spanish deposits are usually close to environmental areas of interest. Matamulas. Although in recent years it has been evidenced that rare earths are a Throwing weapon on the world geopolitical stageit really has been looking for the independence of China for years. In 2015, the Spanish company Quantum Mining It started to study the land in the Manchega region of Campo de Montiel, where municipalities such as Valdepeñas or Torrenueva are located. In general, the area of ​​mules, matamulas and auctione. It is Torrenueva the town that is right next to the great mining site that sought to exploit Quantum Mining And that, according to his studies, he is up to Monacita. Under this term we have elements and minerals such as Cerio, Neodimio, Torio or Lantano and is not very common in Europe. To the load. In a recent one video (Although, as we say, this comes from long), Quantum Mineria affirms that the production of Montiel’s Camp Build 350,000 electric cars or 10,000 wind generators. There is a problem: those rare earths are under large extensions of cultivation, mainly cereal. The company’s plan is to temporarily remove the half -meter vegetation layer that, they affirm, will carefully retain, once the mining process is over, restore it and leave it as it was. The backhoes remove the layer of land containing the monacite and all this takes to a plant in which the interesting thing is signed of what does not. This is done without using polluting chemicals and, once the monacite is on the one hand and the earth without interest on another, return it to the ground and place the previously removed crop. The machinery works by sectors of one hectare, without interrupting adjacent agriculture and claim that, once the land is restored, it can be re -cultivated “in better conditions than the originals.” Criticism. They complement their allegation by stating that they would create industry, help repopulate the area, attract jobs and encourage conditions for traditional agricultural and livestock activities. It is not something that has convinced neighbors or environmental organizations. In 2016, Ecologists in Action alleged that the environmental impact on the 27,500 hectares in which it was projected to work would be severe. Worry. Among other issues, water worried. From the organization, they affirmed that between 310,000 and 500,000 cubic meters of water a year, which would have to multiply for ten years of mining activity to cover all the estimated hectares. It was not logical in a region in which the problems of water supply in droughts are not rare, with overexploited aquifers and an intense agricultural activity of the economy in the area. Brake. To this we must add that in the area there are two Zepas (Areas of special protection for birds) and is a place of presence of the lynx. With all this in mind, and after two years of social struggle, the CLM government gave folder to the matter in 2017. Load return. In recent years, in different forums it has been followed defending The suitability of the area as a strategic enclave so that Spain – and Europe – stop depending both on the importation of strange earth elements of China, arguing that it is key to decarbonization and energy transition, but also defending the environmental respect of the activity. It was at the beginning of 2024 when Quantum Mining He returned To request permits to carry out a research project to quantify the amount of rare earths in the Montiel field, referring to the “high risk of supply interruptions” due to China’s strategic movements of the previous months. Quantum affirms that his process is respectful of existing crops Abandoned mines. Given this new attempt, environmentalist in action reacted again, but also proposed a solution. Joan Evans, responsible for mining in the organization, pointed out that the abandoned mines that are already in Spain could be exploited again, in whose dump there are “very important quantities” of rare earths. Before the resurgence of Quantum, both neighbors and the Diputación de Ciudad Real and the Platform ‘Yes to living earth‘They returned to oppose to the granting of permits. Given this new rejection, Javier Merino, president of Quantum Mining, affirmed that its activity would be “totally compatible with the traditional activities of the area” and that the rejection climate is due to the propagation of “false news with photographs of mining farms that have nothing to do with our project.” “The most ecological in the world”. As a support for the activities of Quantum, the Secretary General of Primigea -the Spanish Confederation of the Mineral Raw Materials Industries – affirmed Recently that “a … Read more

There is a 2% probability that the asteroid impact the earth, but we will not know how much it measures until the webb observes it

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He Asteroid 2024 YR4 He has aroused unusual interest since his discovery on December 27. Although the probability of impact with the earth remains very low, has risen from 1 to 2% As new observations are obtained. However, astronomers are having difficulty measuring their size and have decided to resort to the most powerful space telescope in history to get out of doubt. There is a problem in how an asteroid is measured. Until now, the size estimates of 2024 YR4 have oscillated between 40 and 90 meters in diameter, a too wide range to assess the danger that would represent an eventual impact with our planet. This lack of precision has a reason and is that The size of the asteroid is calculated from the reflected visible lighta method that depends on the reflectivity of its surface. 2024 YR4 could be an object of 40 meters very reflective or an object of 90 meters very dark. As well as any intermediate option. The James Webb space telescope to the rescue. Unlike other observatories, The 10,000 million dollar telescopeoperated by NASA, ESA and the Canadian space agency, does not observe the visible spectrum, but the infrared spectrum, and with an unprecedented sensitivity. Astronomers will allocate hours of webb use to analyze the infrared light emitted by the asteroid to obtain a more precise measurement of its size and temperature. With luck, it will allow them to discern whether 2024 YR4 is at the lower or upper end of the estimated range, crucial information to better evaluate the consequences of their unlikely but possible impact. Two rounds of observation are planned. Space agencies have foreseen Two rounds of crucial observations With the Webb Telescope. The first will take place in early March, when the asteroid is at its point of greatest brightness and visibility for the telescope. The second round, scheduled for May, will allow scientists to study how the object temperature varies as it moves away from the sun, in addition to continuing to obtain data on its trajectory when the object has ceased to be visible by terrestrial telescopes. Why fluctuate the probability of impact. The 2% estimate is the most up -to -date ES has provided so far (NASA publishes a 2.1% estimate). The figure varies constantly because the calculations have been incorporating new observations that reduce the uncertainty of their trajectory. These fluctuations are, in fact, typical behavior in the estimation of the impact risk of newly discovered objects. NASA planetary defense equipment and ESA are based on orbital dynamic systems (such as Scout, Sentry, Meerkat and Aegis) that generate multiple possible trajectories for the asteroid. As less likely orbits are discarded, targeting on Earth may increase the fraction of possible impacts, although, over time, additional observations allow the threat to definitively discard. If this were not the case with 2024 YR4, we would be talking about a meteorite that could fall in countries as populated as Colombia, Nigeria or India on January 22, 2032. Then we would start talking about a mission to divert it, a task in the that We already have some practice. Image | Two of the 18 mirrors of the Webb Telescope (NASA/C. GUNN) In Xataka | The impact probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 has risen to 1.6%. The UN has already activated a special protocol

The probability that the asteroid falls on Earth has risen to 2.3%. Even the Webb Telescope is monitoring it

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The last NASA calculations They place the probability that the asteroid 2024 YR4 impact with the land by 2.3%, a figure that the European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed with Its own 2.27% estimate. For those who have lost their account, in just one week of observations We have gone from 1 between 83 possibilities that the asteroid crosses the planet Earth to 1 between 43. The options are still low, but they are high enough for the offices of NASA planetary defense and that They have intensified their monitoring efforts. To the James Webb space telescope, 10,000 million dollars, will be monitoring The little asteroid. 2024 YR4 is not much, but with A diameter of between 40 and 90 meterscould destroy an entire city if it survived the reentry and impact an urban area. When? On January 22, 2032. Where? At some point in the strip that extends from the East of the Pacific Ocean to northern South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Arabian Sea and the south of Asia. It should be noted that These impact estimates They are calculated taking as reference the quotient between the diameter of the earth and the width of the area of ​​uncertainty of the asteroid, generated from simulations. The problem: 2024 YR4 is moving away from Earth In an elliptical trajectorywhich hinders its detection with conventional instruments. In a few weeks it will have become so faint that even professional four -meter telescopes have trouble capturing it. As of April, it will be necessary to resort to the Webb or the Vary Large Telescope of the Austral European Observatory to continue watching it until the object reappears In June 2028. The monitoring of the trajectory of an asteroid is a dynamic process that surely gives us a roller coaster of emotions. As more observations from the asteroid and its trajectory have, the probability of impact could increase again and then progressively reduce until reaching zeroconfirming the main hypothesis: that the asteroid will pass by instead of colliding with the earth. If not, the good news is that humanity has experience in asteroid diversion. In 2022, NASA’s dart mission He showed that it is possible to alter the trajectory of a spatial object through a kinetic impact. This historical achievement is the empirical test that we have the technology and knowledge necessary to at least try to protect our planet. Meanwhile, the UN has put on alert the Space Missions Advisory Group (SMPAG), which agreed to meet again at the end of April or early May to study possible mitigation measures in case the probability of impact is maintained or increased . Image | Daniel Bamberger In Xataka | The impact probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 has risen to 1.6%. The UN has already activated a special protocol

A study has simulated what would happen on Earth if Asteroid Bennu ends up impacting in 2182. The climate we know would not exist

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The chances of crashing an asteroid of “large” category on our planet They are, on average, 0.001%. Therefore, everything that begins to raise that figure begins to be “less” normal. Hence Let’s talk about 2024 YR4 and its 1.6%. That said, and although there are less possibilities that it will occur, due to its size, The Bennu Asteroid It would be one of the most dangerous of the solar system. How much? That is precisely what they wanted to find out in South Korea. Potentially dangerous. The Bennu Asteroid, an object close to the land of approximately 0.5 kilometers in diameter, has been identified as one of the greatest known space threats. His orbit brings him closer to our planet every six years, and although the risk of impact is extremely low (right now it is 0.037%), the possibility of colliding with the Earth on September 24, 2182 has led the scientific community to the scientific community analyze in depth its possible effects. An unprecedented recent study, Posted in Science Advances By researchers at the IBS Institute of Climate Physics of the National University of Pusan ​​in South Korea, it has modeled for the first time the climatic and ecological consequences of an impact of a medium -sized asteroid such as Bennu. The results, of course, are not the best. The legacy of an ancient asteroid. Scientists believe that Bennu detached himself from a larger asteroid, rich in carbon, between 700 million and two billion years ago, progressively approaching the Earth’s orbit. Its composition is of great scientific interest for a simple and fascinating reason: contains key elements for lifewhat motivated NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission to explore it in 2020 and bring samples to Earth in 2023. However, and beyond its scientific value, Bennu represents a real risk that, although unlikely, cannot be ignored. Impact simulation. As explained in the study, South Korean researchers designed Detailed models to analyze how that possible impact of Bennu would affect climate, biodiversity and food security. What did they find? The most extreme scenario revealed that the impact would inject into the atmosphere between 100 and 400 million tons of dust. In other words, more graphic: it would block sunlight and plunge the planet in abrupt cooling. As for the effects, the simulation showed a certainty: They would be global and devastating. Namely: reduction in the average planet temperature in up to 4 ° C, a decrease comparable to the eras glaciers, 15% drop in rainfall, affecting the water supply and agriculture, loss of 32% of the ozone layer , exposing life on Earth to dangerous levels of ultraviolet radiation, and the decrease in photosynthesis by 20-30%, both in terrestrial and sailor ecosystems, which would cause a serious crisis in food production. In short, these combined effects would trigger, according to the study, A winter of impact that would last between three and four yearscausing global famine and an ecological crisis of enormous proportions. Comparison with past events. While a Bennu impact would be devastating, the truth is that the earth has faced major threats. The best known event occurred 66 million years ago, When an asteroid of 10 kilometers in diameter hit what is now Chicxulub, Mexicocausing the extinction of dinosaurs and climatic alterations that endured thousands of years. In comparison, Bennu is significantly smaller, but large enough to cause mass destruction and deeply alter the biosphere. Not just that. Other studies suggest that medium -sized asteroids such as bennu collide with the earth approximately every 100,000 to 200,000 years, indicating that Our prehistoric ancestors could have experienced similar events with impact on human evolution and global biodiversity. Impact on the oceans. Despite the catastrophic effects, Bennu’s impact could generate an unexpected reaction on the oceans. The iron released in the stratosphere would be deposited in the sea, stimulating the proliferation of phytoplankton and zooplanktonessential organisms for the marine food chain. According to the study, while land ecosystems would take two to three years to recover, Marine life could recover in just six monthsand even exceed their levels prior to the impact due to the increase in nutrients. Planetary Defense Strategies. Despite the low impact risk, NASA and other space agencies work on the development of planetary defense technologies. For example, the Dart mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)carried out in 2022, he successfully demonstrated the human ability to divert the trajectory of an asteroid, opening the door to future mitigation strategies. And besides Bennu, there are other more immediate threats. For example and as we have explained these days, Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 1.6% probability of impacting the Earth in 2032which reinforces the need to continue with research and develop effective prevention systems. What does seem clear to this last study is that not only reveals the vulnerability of our planet to cosmic events, but also highlights that need to advance surveillance and planetary defense technology. While the possibility that Bennu or any other asteroid impact the earth is minimal, geological history demonstrates that events of this type have shaped the evolution of life and could happen again in the future. Image | Ghost presentNASA In Xataka | All DNA bases and 14 of 20 amino acids: NASA has found molecules linked to life in Bennu samples In Xataka | Physicists have been looking for a fundamental “fifth strength.” Bennu may have approached us to find her

NASA ends up announcing that this large asteroid has a 1% chance of impacting with the earth. That is not normal

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At the end of March last year, NASA launched a very special statement. The agency came to say that the biggest object that will happen near the earth will be An asteroid that will approximate 32,000 kilometers And it can be seen with the naked eye on April 13, 2029. A few hours ago, NASA has given another “those” news. They have found a meteorite distinct To all we know. YR4: Impact risk. As we said, NASA has issued a statement About an asteroid called as 2024 YR4 Discovered at the end of December 2024 by the Atlas system in Chile. This object has drawn attention because it presents a probability of impact superior to all recent meteorites: 1% for December 22, 2032which makes it one of the asteroids with the greatest potential risk of collision registered to date. With everything and as we usually say in these cases, this estimate will possibly change as new observations are made, with expectations that the probability of impact decreases. Classification and risk. The asteroid has an estimated size of between 40 and 91 meters in diameter, similar to that of the object that caused the Tunguska event in 1908. Therefore, currently It is classified at level 3 of the Torino scaleindicating a real probability of impact that merits monitoring, although, again, its level is expected to be reduced as more data will be obtained. This scale, used to evaluate the risk of asteroid impact, goes from 0 (without danger) to 10 (catastrophic collision). In any case and for us to get an idea, before this finding there was no recorded asteroid with a score greater than 0 on the Torino scale. Closeness and probabilities of impact. The closest step of 2024 YR4 is estimated at 0.00001 Astronomical Units (AU) of the Earth, which is equivalent to 1,500 kilometers away, that is, closer than many satellites in terrestrial orbit. At the moment, The impact probability is 1 in 83 (Approximately 1.2%), which has generated that concern in the scientific community. However, and although we look repetitive, it is important to underline that the experience with similar asteroids indicates that these probabilities usually decrease after more analysis. Precedents There have been cases of asteroids that have reached higher levels on the Torino scale and were subsequently discarded as threats. An example is 99942 apophis, which in 2004 reached level 4 due to a probability of 1.6% impact in 2029, Although subsequent studies eliminated any risk In 2029, 2036 and 2068. Therefore, it is feasible to think that asteroid 2024 YR4 in the future is reclassified at level 0 As their orbital calculations are related. Possible consequences and monitoring. To put ourselves in the worst of the stage, with a possible impact, 2024 YR4 would not represent a global extinction event, but could cause significant damage if impacting a populated area, similar to the famous Tunguska event that swept a vast region in Siberia. Therefore, NASA and other space agencies will continue to track their trajectory and refine the calculations to confirm their destination. Although The American agency has emphasized its statement that the probability of impact is still low (about 1%) and that this type of initial evaluations tend to be corrected over time, also ends up underlining that it will adjust its predictions ensuring that any potential risk is properly evaluated and, if necessary, addressed With planetary defense strategies. Image | POT In Xataka | The biggest object that will happen near Earth is an asteroid that will approximate 32,000 km and can be seen with the naked eye In Xataka | The last asteroid located by NASA, giving up “close” of the Earth: a mole of the size of the giza pyramid

China has placed the largest engineering work projected at 36,000 km from the Earth: its space solar station

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We are still far from build a dyson spherebut China seems willing to materialize The first great Solar Energy Station in orbit With the Earth, a simpler version of the concept that, even so, NASA scientists discarded in the 70-80 for being economically unfeasible. Times have changed and the world is in full energy transition to renewable sources. China, who has no shame when copying advances from other nations, provided they serve their purposes, work at the same time in Your own Starship: A totally reusable giant rocket called CZ-9. Uniting points, the Chinese Engineering Academy (CAE) wants to take advantage of the future rocket To install a huge solar plant in space, 36,000 km on the earth. 10 years ago, when China announced that it would investigate the space solar energy stations, everyone seemed to be a theoretical study or one more concept proof, such as those that continue to develop Today in NASAthe Jaxa Japanese agency and The European Space Agency (THAT). However, Chinese officials have put An ambitious roadmap on the table that has caught the rest of the countries totally off guard. The first prototype of the Chinese space center, 500 kW of power, is expected by 2030. A fully operational version of 20 MW would be ready in 2035 (while the station in its final form, of 2 GW, is scheduled for 2050. It is not a small thing for a technology that has never been implemented, much less on a large scale. It will presumably require hundreds of launches and the assembly of thousands of solar panels in geostation orbit, 36,000 km altitude, where the profitability of launching tons and tons of load will depend on the fact that the CZ-9 rocket be fully reusable, as the Chinese promise. Long Lehao, a rocket scientist in the fall, did not lack symiles to justify this huge media deployment. “It is a project as important as transferring the prey of the three throats to a geostationary orbit He said during a conference in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Of course, they will have to put small demonstrators in orbit of what will end up being the Space Solar Station. China has already tested From hot air balloonsand is building a receiving station in Chongqing. By 2026, the Chinese Space Technology Academy (CASC) plans to display its first 10 kW solar panels in space with the aim of demonstrating wireless energy transmission. He hopes to transmit up to 1 kW by laser and up to 4 kW by microwave, both to the receptor station on Earth and a nearby satellite, which suggests a future in which satellite constellations could be combined with the solar station. How will the solar station that China plans to install in space Little is known at the technical level of what the first farm of solar panels will be deploy in geostationary orbitsince no project has been officially selected. But Eureka List three concepts, out of different Chinese laboratories, which have enough ballots: In 2014, the Chinese Space Technology Academy (CASC) proposed a 11.8 km long station with a circular transmission antenna of 1 km in diameter; In 2021, the concept was updated with a modular design, easier to assemble, but with the disadvantage of a rectangular beam That same year, the Xidian University published a study on a spherical station with a diameter of 8 to 10 km and a system that would take advantage of semi -reflective panels to concentrate light on internal photovoltaic cells In 2016, the Shenyang Aerospace University proposed a similar concept that, instead of a spherical design, has a cylindrical design that refracts sunlight towards internal photovoltaic panels, a design that simplifies the monitoring of the sun What these concepts have in common is that they rotate like sunflowers to always point towards the sun, so their huge solar panels capture an inexhaustible flow of solar energy that then transmit to the earth. How do they transmit it? Concentrating a laser or microwave beam towards large antennas in receiving stations on Earth, where it becomes electricity to store in batteries or pour into the electricity grid. The wireless transfer takes advantage of a physical phenomenon known as interference or overlap of waves. It is usually explained by visualizing a pond in which you submerge both hands to form waves that spread at the same time. There are areas where waves are stronger because they advance together (they add up to the phase) and others in which they are canceled (they are out of phase). When waves work together, energy is not lost, but is concentrated in a specific direction. If there are several sources operating in a coordinated manner (all issuing at the same time, in the same phase) the energy can be directed in one direction. But if each source works a little earlier or a little after the others, the direction of the beam can be controlled. As a magnifying glass that concentrates the light at one point, it is possible to adjust the synchronization of these sources to focus energy in an area smaller than the original (such as the antenna on the surface of the earth). This correction can be carried out on the Nanoseconds of Electronics scale, which allows the energy direction to be handled very quickly or assigned to different locations (different antennas). In geostationary orbit, solar panels can be operated all the time and with conversion efficiencies superior to those that the panels achieve on this side of the atmosphere, hence the advantage of a photovoltaic station in space. However, the complexity of its deployment and doubts about the safety and efficiency of wireless transmission make all this technology still without being tested since studying in the 70s and 80s. China aspires to lead the new space solar energy career, as leading the earth’s photovoltaic energy, but will not be alone. Japan became 2015 In the first country that managed to transmit 1,8 kW in microwave wirelessly. … Read more

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